Remembrance
by Darious Frost
Summary: Sakura reflects on her past, a very important missed chance, and the futility of certain promises. (not a great summary)


Okay, here goes, story number two.

This one came to me while I was reading some other fics faved by some of my favorite story's authors. No, this is not a continuation of A Hero's Passing.

Usual disclaimer ~ I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed within, and this is not for profit of any kind.

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Five years. Five long, lonely, quiet years. The village hadn't changed too much in those five years, but one of the things that had changed was how calm and quiet it had become. A lone, pink haired woman sat beside a stone marker at the top of the Hokage monument as the sun slowly set in the distance, staring out over the village that the faces carved in the stone under her watched over as their likenesses had in life. A voice calling her name from behind her gave her a start as she jumped to her feet and spun to see who had startled her, though already able to recognize the voice of her teacher.

"Shishou, you startled me. What brings you here?"

Placing her hand over her chest as she caught her breath, Sakura looked at her master, noticing that she had a pair of saucers and a bottle of saké in hand. Taking a seat on the other side of the marker, placing one of the cups in front of the stone and pouring some of the sake into it as Sakura stood watching.

"Probably the same thing that you were doing before I interrupted you. Have a seat."

Taking her seat beside the stone again as Tsunade poured herself a cup before downing it immediately, then pouring another and sitting there for a moment, watching as the sun worked its way lower and lower. Sakura found herself surprised when she noticed the cup being held before her.

"Shishou?"

Tsunade simply gestured for her to take it from her before Sakura took it and downed it herself. She crinkled her nose at the burn and the taste that she could never get used to, wondering how her teacher used to be able to drink it so much and so often.

"You know, I never got to have that drink with him I promised him."

Sakura turned to look at Tsunade, who was staring off at the sun, a small wisp of a sad smile on her lips. Sakura could tell that she was fighting back tears that threatened to spill at the memories that filled her mind of the last time she saw him alive.

"I always expected that it would be him coming to my marker, not the other way around."

Sakura simply sat there, listening as her master's voice started to crack as she spoke.

"He was supposed to die an old man, with grand children and great grand children running around making hell for the village in his place, not at 23... not by HIS hand!"

Tsunade's voice finally broke at the same time the dam holding her tears back did. Sakura remembered exactly what Tsunade had spoken of, she had been on the team with her teacher and fellow apprentice that had gone to back him up.

()

The three women were moving as fast as their bodies could carry them, worry for the blonde man who had come to mean so much to all three of them. For Tsunade, an adoptive son. For Shizune, the little brother that she had never had. For Sakura, the rock of her life, the foundation that kept her sane, rooted... happy over the years. Sakura had promised to finally give him a date once he got back, success or not, as long as he came back to her. She was coming to hope that her master's luck had not started to rub off on her as she felt a massive surge of chakra in the near distance. She looked over to see that Tsunade and Shizune had felt it as well, as all 3 started pushing harder to get there as fast as they could. Sadly, as fast as they could, wasn't fast enough, for as they reached the clearing formed by the battle, they found the Naruto and Sasuke both laying in the middle of the clearing, neither one moving. As they got closer, all three kunoichi could see the broken sword laying beside Sasuke's pale, still hand. Looking closer at his body, they could see the unmistakable markings left by a rasengan in the center of his now concave chest, blood running from his ears, eyes, nose and lips, letting them know that the strike had hit him with an immense amount of force. They could tell that he was already dead. They all quickly looked to Naruto as they heard him let out a half groaned sentence.

"Hey... there..."

As they all spun to see him, they saw the massive amount of damage he had taken; his body covered in cuts, burns and holes. The most notable of those wounds were two gaping holes the size of a hand, the work of two chidoris from the dead man laying next to him, the man he saw as a brother.

"NARUTO!"

All three women shouted in unison as they all moved to start healing him, wondering why the Kyubi hadn't started to heal him yet. Their hands all started glowing as they moved to stop the bleeding and close the two gaping chidori wounds, panicking as the holes wouldn't close as fast as they hoped.

"Guys... stop... it's no **cough** use... Kurama's passed out from trying to keep up... and I'm out of chakra."

Naruto's face scrunched up in pain before coughing up more blood, adding to what was already running down his cheek.

"I... don't have much time, do I?"

His eyes locking on Sakura as tears flowed down her face as she worked to heal his punctured lung, missing the frantic shaking of Shizune's tearful head as Tsunade gave her a paniced look, noticing the placement of the second hole and a stab wound. Sasuke had punched right through his spine, and pierced his kidneys, there was no way that they could save him, and they both knew it.

"I'm sorry... I failed Sakura-chan... I guess I won't be getting that date after all... **cough** I'm glad I got to see you one last time though." Sakura started to panic as she saw the light in his eyes starting to fade as he spoke, redoubling her efforts to close the wound and save the knuckle head she had come to love, not as a brother, or as simply a friend, but as the man that she had decided that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with once he had returned. She was starting to see that her dream might not be coming true, just like his dream. His coughing was starting to get worse, Tsunade and Shizune both moving from the wounds they had been working on fruitlessly to his chest, trying to keep him going long enough to say his goodbyes as they all cried over him.

"S-sakura... I need to tell you something. Something I should have said **cough** a long time ago. I..."

Going into a short coughing fit, Naruto reached shakily into a vest pocket and pulled free a small ring that fell to his chest from his weakened fingers.

"I love you Sakura... I always have."

Her eyes widened as she saw the ring, her heart breaking like a fragile pane of glass as she new now that his dream had changed to match hers without her even knowing it. She broke down, leaning in closer to his ear and mumbling softly to him.

"I love you too... I was such a fool for waiting so long to admit it to myself... now I'm too late..."

Naruto smiled softly, straining to lift his hand to her cheek and wiping at her tears.

"You're... not. I can go... happy..."

As he spoke those words, his hand fell from her cheek and his eyes drifted shut. Tsunade and Shizune knelt there crying as they watched Sakura break into sobs, over him, crying for her lost chance, and lost love.

()

Sakura's fingers ran over the ring on the gold chain around her neck as she sat there. The sun finally setting below the horizon, the pair stood before moving to stand before the marker and bowed to it, both with tear-stained cheeks. After giving up a small prayer, both women headed back toward the village he had protected with everything he had, leaving the full saucer in front of the stone marker that bore the Uzumaki swirl at the top and read "Uzumaki Naruto: The greatest Hokage Konoha never got to have."

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AN: I know that this is another tragic story, I'm sorry, it seems to be all that I can write. **Bows** please, read and review.


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